Photo: Tesla/Twitter
Caveat emptor is a Latin expression that means “let the buyer beware.” In English, it became a proverb that states the buyers are ultimately responsible for making sure that what they are buying is in good condition. Ralph Nader used it to poke Tesla about its results on J.D. Power’s 2021 Vehicle Dependability Study.
In a tweet, the author of “Unsafe at Any Speed” tagged Elon Musk to mock the fact that Tesla ended up in the 30th place out of 33 brands when it comes to reliability. Consumer Reports recently presented another dependability study that did not make Tesla look much better: it was only better than Lincoln. Among 28 carmakers, it landed in the 27th position.
For a company that brags about not spending money on marketing and relying on its customers to sell more cars, these results are really dangerous for Tesla. On top of that, its clients complain pretty often about not being able to schedule repairs at Tesla Service Centers. If build quality were higher, perhaps these repair shops would be more available to customers.
As a consumer advocate, Nader warned people willing to buy a Tesla to read the J.D. Power report in order to be more aware of the potential issues these cars may present. He then teases the company by saying that “maybe production lines are too much too fast” and that people should not fall “for all Elon Musk’s boasting.”
Some of Nader’s followers asked what this had to do with safety since he’s famous for bringing awareness to the way cars were built in the 1960s. However, as a consumer advocate, the attorney also wants to promote better products, which implies they have to be better in many more aspects. On top of that, an unreliable car can represent safety risks in certain situations, especially if it decides to stop in the middle of the road. Instead of being mad with Nader, Tesla fans should care for the only thing that can really help the company they claim to love so much: demand that it improves build quality as much as possible.
For a company that brags about not spending money on marketing and relying on its customers to sell more cars, these results are really dangerous for Tesla. On top of that, its clients complain pretty often about not being able to schedule repairs at Tesla Service Centers. If build quality were higher, perhaps these repair shops would be more available to customers.
As a consumer advocate, Nader warned people willing to buy a Tesla to read the J.D. Power report in order to be more aware of the potential issues these cars may present. He then teases the company by saying that “maybe production lines are too much too fast” and that people should not fall “for all Elon Musk’s boasting.”
Some of Nader’s followers asked what this had to do with safety since he’s famous for bringing awareness to the way cars were built in the 1960s. However, as a consumer advocate, the attorney also wants to promote better products, which implies they have to be better in many more aspects. On top of that, an unreliable car can represent safety risks in certain situations, especially if it decides to stop in the middle of the road. Instead of being mad with Nader, Tesla fans should care for the only thing that can really help the company they claim to love so much: demand that it improves build quality as much as possible.
For all of @elonmusk's boasting, potential buyers of Tesla cars should read the 2021 Vehicle Dependability Study by JD Power. Tesla comes in at 30 out of 33 on dependability. Maybe production lines are too much too fast. Caveat emptor. -R
— Ralph Nader (@RalphNader) November 16, 2021
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